COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE EXAMINES MODIFICATION OF ITS RULES
Press Release
HR/4239
COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE EXAMINES MODIFICATION OF ITS RULES
19951124 Permanent Representative of Italy Submits Letter to Committee Concerning Its ObservationsGENEVA, 22 November (UN Information Service) -- The Committee against Torture continued its examination this morning of draft modifications in its internal rules. It also considered a letter from the Permanent Representative of Italy concerning the Committee's observations during its examination of that country's report.
During its discussion on internal regulations, the Committee focused its attention on two new paragraphs denoting that a Committee member who decides not to participate in the examination of a report or the procedure relative to article 20 on the undertaking of a confidential investigation, should "inform the President of the decision to withdraw".
The Committee decided to ask a working group to draft a new proposal, based on texts currently being submitted concerning the participation of a member in the examination of the report of his own country, confidential investigations, and the confidential examination of "communications" (complaints) regarding his country. The Committee debated whether the member concerned should express the wish not to participate, or should not be allowed to participate.
The Committee also considered other provisions of the internal regulation relative to article 20, in particular concerning visiting missions. It is also planned that the country concerned would be invited to inform the Committee, within a limited period set by the latter, "of its observations relative to the eventual publication of a succinct report on the results of the investigation" undertaken on the ground by the Committee, in accordance with the State Party.
Letter from Italy
A letter was also submitted to the Committee, addressed to the Chairman of the Committee, Dipanda Mouelle, by the Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations at Geneva, Giuseppe Baldocci, transmitting additional information about his country following the examination of the second periodical report of Italy on 27 April.
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In his letter, Ambassador Baldocci made three observations on the conclusions adopted by the committee on Italy's application of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. He said "the text adopted by the Committee referred to facts and situations that had nothing to do with the Convention against torture, nor were connected with it in any way". Secondly, he stressed that Italy, as a State Party to the Convention against Racial Discrimination, had submitted periodic reports to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and that in March the Committee had ruled out the existence of cases of racial discrimination in Italy. Moreover, he underlined that although the Committee had taken note of the remarks of a non-governmental organization (NGO) on the issue of torture, "that very NGO had acknowledged that no acts of torture had occurred in Italy and that cases of ill-treatment had decreased in the last few years".
The Committee against torture has decided to examine the matter more thoroughly before answering the State Party.
Functioning of Conventional Organs
The Chairman of the Committee also read the report of the sixth meeting of the Chairmen of the bodies created in accordance with the international instruments relating to human rights, held in Geneva between 18 and 22 September. The report had focused on the improvement in the functioning of those organs, taking into account the problems specific to women in their work, and procedures for rapidly alerting those concerned in situations involving serious violations of human rights.
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